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Loading ...Homophobic remarks cost Buttars chairmanship
02.23.2009 9:14am EST
(Salt Lake City, Utah) A Utah state senator has been kicked off the judicial committee he chaired after he drew criticism for comparing gay activists to radical Muslims in an interview.
Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, also told former local television reporter Reed Cowan, an openly gay documentary producer who now works at a Miami station, that gay activists are “probably the greatest threat to America going down.”The comments drew calls for Buttars’ resignation in Utah and elsewhere. The Washington, D.C.-based Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, said that by Friday more than 15,000 e-mails had been sent to Utah Senate President Michael Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, demanding that he condemn Buttars’ remarks.
Waddoups did not condemn Buttars’ statements and said he kicked Buttars off the committee primarily as a way to draw attention away from him. In a brief news conference Friday, Waddoups declined to say what comments – if any – Buttars made that he and other Republicans disagreed with.
“We think he’s a senator that represents the point of view of many of his constituents, of many of ours,” Waddoups said. “We agree with many of the things he said. We may disagree with some of them, we may disagree with some of the ways he said it.”
Buttars declined to comment to The Associated Press, but said Friday he would not be issuing an apology.
In a statement released on the Senate Republicans’ blog, Buttars wrote that he will continue to defend traditional marriage.
“I disagree with my removal as Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, since my work there is entirely unrelated to my opposition to the homosexual agenda,” Buttars wrote. “Still, I’m a grown man and I can take my knocks. When it comes right down to it, I would rather be censured for doing what I think is right, than be honored by my colleagues for bowing to the pressure of a special interest group that has been allowed to act with impunity.”
As chairman of the committee, Buttars frequently took pride in killing legislation that would have extended some legal rights to gay couples. He has long complained that gay people lack morals and are trying to indoctrinate others into a gay lifestyle.
“What is the morals of a gay person? You can’t answer that, because anything goes. So now you’re moving toward a society that has no morals,” Buttars told Cowan in the January interview, which was about the Proposition 8 campaign to ban gay marriage in California and the involvement of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In comparing gay activists to Islamic radicals, Buttars said, “Muslims are good people and their religion is anti-war. But it’s been taken over by the radical side. And the gays are totally taken over by the radical side.”
Buttars’ comments first aired this week on the Salt Lake City ABC affiliate KTVX, where Cowan once worked, and a copyrighted audio clip is posted on its Web site. Cowan is now a reporter at WSVN in Miami.
Republican leaders didn’t plan on addressing Buttars’ comments publicly until they were urged to do so by Democrats who said they would force the issue on the Senate floor if necessary.
Last year, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People demanded that Buttars resign after he disparaged a bill by saying, “This baby is black, I’ll tell you. It’s a dark, ugly thing.”
Buttars brushed aside his critics and won re-election in November.
Reed,
I empathize with where you are at now. I was at that jumping off point in 1995 when the church held a conference on how to grow out of homosexuality.
I finally wrote the letter and walked the five blocks to the Post Office to mail it. I remember not being sure the entire way if I’d actually do it or not. When I arrived at the blue mailbox outside of the PO, I again hesitated, telling myself that this was permanent. I slowly dropped the letter in the box. And I’m telling you the truth, when I heard it hit the bottom, I knew instantly I’d done the right thing. I felt lighter and lighter each step home. It was a freedom I can’t describe. I have never regretted it, and have never looked back. With each year that passes, I am able to look at the church and it’s teachings and practices with a clearer head. This allows me to see it for what it truly is, which before, as a member, the clear view of that was very cloudy to me.
So many people stay in the church feeling that if they do, they provide a voice within. They really don’t.
The best way to make a statement – to make those who know you think… is to just walk away from it…
Good luck Reed…
Robert, I agree with you. I am still a member, and have not asked the church to remove my membership. After what has happened, it is getting close. Only thing is, they want me to visit with them in their offices to explain why. NO THANK YOU!!!
I have a father who expressed those kind of opinions like Buttars. He has treated me no different than the rest. It is a shame. He fully defends Buttars. Whatever!
I asked my mom what would happen if someone said in Congress, “Mormon are the greatest threat to America. What would happen?” She didn’t have a response.
As a former Mormon from Utah, trust me… the majority of the population there supports what this nut said lock stock and barrel.
Those that removed him stated they only did so to draw attention away from him. Then he said, “We agree with many of the things he said. We may disagree with some of them, we may disagree with some of the ways he said it.”
Nothing he said was intelligent or true, so when they said they agree with ‘most’ of it…. well, they’re all idiots.
This is what happens when you have a cult condition the minds of it’s members, from birth, that whatever the church or the prophet says is the same as if God said it.
These are not intelligent people because they have forfeited their responsibility to think for themselves. They pride themselves on their obedience in ‘following the brethren.’
Growing up, the justification I continuously heard for all of this is… that we are blessed by being obedient, and if the prophet or the brethren instruct us wrong on something, the sin will be on their heads, while we will be blessed for being obedient.
A sad group of people indeed.
Utah Republican Chris Buttars says he will continue to defend traditional marriage. Well, guess what, Mr. Buttars! As we demand equal marriage rights, we are also defending traditional marriage. We are defending MARRIAGE. Opponents of marriage equality are merely satisfied with defending a DEFINITION OF MARRIAGE. Unfortunately, I have seen precious little effort on the part of anti-equality advocates to actually help improve the success rates of any marriage.
If they don’t believe same-sex couples should marry then they don’t have to marry someone of the same sex. That doesn’t give them the right to interfere with personal choices made by others.
Why don’t they simply admit the truth? Marriage is not their real issue. It is just their first step to deny or roll-back any and all equality, safety and civil rights from LGBT people. They will not be happy until society is returning to the day when we, as LGBT people, had no rights and no legal status.
Well, Mr. Buttars, we ain’t going back! Get used to it!
The most disturbing item in this news article is the statement that, despite his known views and “off the wall” remarks, this man won another election last fall. What kind of constituents does he have? A sad and tragic commentary on the attitudes that must prevail in Utah. HOW can these people be this ignorant?
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There may be something far more sinister going on. Buttars is the (former?) executive director of what was then known as the “Utah Boys’ Ranch. Below is the fax I sent to the West Jordan UT police dept. over the weekend. They have yet to respond.
Bud (Brother Raymond)
——————————————–
The Rev’d Brother Raymond H. Burgoon-Clark
Superior (retired)
The Community of the Resurrection
San Diego CA
20 February 2009
Police Department
8040 S. Redwood Rd.
West Jordan, Utah 84088
(801) 256-2000
(801) 562-2105 Fax
Dear Friends in Christ,
I was made aware of this website today:
http://www.mormongulag.com/
Has this been investigated, and if so, what was the finding?
Sincerely,
The Rev’d Brother Raymond H. Burgoon-Clark
I’ll wager that if he had compared gays to a different group(not used the Muslim comparison) he’d still be chairman. The Mormons didn’t remove him because of the gay aspect – they want good relationships with moderate Moslims.
I take an issue with what Waddoups said that Buttars’ words reflect what Many of his constituents think. That does not reflect what his gay constituents think or what his fair-minded straight constituents who support the rights of gay Utahans think. And I read quite recently articles on 365gay.com that say that a fair number of Utah people believe in gay rights regardless of the
constitutional amendment, the Mormons of Salt Lake City, or the Mormoms of the rest of Utah etc or Buttars.
Who is this guy kidding calling gays and lesbians a “special interest group that has been allowed to act with impunity”? The tragic results of the election, with Prop. 8 passing in CA, shows that we are not immune to the whims of the majority in this country. I am happy to hear that such hateful speech cost him his job!
’special interest’??
The only ’special’ insterest we have is to live our lives openly and freely with the SAME benefits and rights that he as a person of the heteropersuasion has. I see nothing ’special’ about that; only fair and deserved.
I feel Buttars is gay. And I had a few things to say about it, too.
All they did was throw us a bone. It was more than Sally Kern got but not enough. It is so sad that our leaders can be so misinformed and misguided and the rules that govern them allow for this kind of hate speech. I am sure when the old guys die off and the new generation takes over, there will be big changes in the way this kind of behavior is dealt with. I wish we could be like the UK when it comes to hate speech and hate groups. It is sad that we still have people and groups like the KKK and Fred Phelps. Freedom and civil rights for all will never be realized when we allow hate as part of the package.